You will find all of the above in the political wordplay of the past few days. A wordplay that means this. That the politics of this place is still in a jam; stuck and going nowhere. On Monday after meeting British Secretary of State James Brokenshire, Sinn Fein’s leader in the north Michelle…

Another fallout on another issue on which agreement has become disagreement. This time it is on the Past. Sinn Fein emerged from a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday accusing her government of “bad faith” in relation to a planned consultation on legacy matters here. The row relates to a recommendation from…

There were no advance copies of the speech. Nothing issued or released under embargo to be checked against delivery. Not this time. Until he spoke to that packed audience at the RDS in Dublin on Saturday, the precise intentions of Gerry Adams were known to very few. It really was one of those…

On Monday at Stormont, Sinn Fein declared this long phase of negotiations over. There is no deal here, and there should be no more pretend politics in this place. May, Varadkar, Brokenshire and Coveney have big calls to make. It is London-Dublin decision time; the test of the worth of the paper upon…

On Monday the politics of this place will turn in the direction of direct rule. Of course, those in government will tell you differently, but a Budget Bill at Westminster is a million miles away from devolution. The London move is a necessary step in the absence of agreement at Stormont. In a read…

If you are looking for the moment when the politics of this place began to turn in the wrong direction, then just think back to this week a year ago. November 8th – the unveiling of a portrait of the Queen by the highly acclaimed Irish artist Colin Davidson and Martin McGuinness present at that…

What was the message – the reading between the lines – as Gerry Adams spoke before the launch of his latest book in west Belfast on Saturday? He had a number of things to say on the Stormont Talks. That he had “noted” what MP Nigel Dodds had said on Friday on the…

‘Failure’ is the political buzz word of the day; used in different sentences by Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann. Used also by Michelle O’Neill and Gerry Adams. Failure on a Stormont day when the governments (players not referees or spectators in this process) did their best to take the bad look off a…

From inside the talks on Tuesday evening a briefing line that “no real progress” was made today on the rights issues. This after British Secretary of State James Brokenshire had again stretched the time frame for these talks. In this process, those deadlines have become meaningless – there to be ignored. Earlier on Tuesday,…

There is no talk of a deal at Stormont. Talk, yes, of another deadline approaching; but deadlines are as relevant – or as irrelevant – as the dandelions on the political slippery slopes of this place. The next talk might be the NIO trying to explain that direct rule is not direct rule;…

Think back to that Sunday in ‪March – the 26th, Mother’s Day – and an early evening news conference at Stormont Castle. Back then, the talks were on the eve of a deadline, waiting to see if Sinn Fein would nominate for Executive Office. NO was the answer delivered by Michelle O’Neill. This phase…

They got a new talks timetable on the political hill today – pointing to the latest of the many Brokenshire deadlines. It means the pretend Parliament now has a little more time to get real; the weeks beginning October 30 (for legislation) and November 6 (for a new Executive) the new and latest timetable…

When you cut through all the talk and hint and speculation at Stormont, you arrive at the same point. That a deal on the political hill depends entirely on the DUP’s ability to deliver on those rights issues that have been at the heart of this negotiation. If Arlene Foster wants to be first…

We are at a point in the Stormont negotiations when every word will be scrutinised; that point in talks that asks louder for a decision. There are ‘mays’ and ‘mights’ in the conversation and headlines and news copy that read and reach between hope and hopefully. There are also the non-attributable conversations that read…

The question above speaks out loudly about the uncertainty of the destination of the Stormont Talks; Whether, in these latest supposedly critical days, there will be a deal or not. The question was posed by a source watching and waiting at the edges of these talks – outside that DUP/Sinn Fein negotiating circle within…